An unheralded midfielder on his second AFL chance epitomises the gritty new standards at the fast-starting Gold Coast, coach Stuart Dew says.
Nick Holman, who faced his old club Carlton on Saturday, has amassed double-digit tackles in consecutive weeks and the SUNS clinched a 2-0 start with a 34-point win over the Blues.
It is Gold Coast's best start to a season since winning the first three matches in 2016, aided in large part by captain Tom Lynch's eight-goal star showing at Etihad Stadium.
Gold Coast led the competition in Champion Data's pressure statistics in the JLT Community Series and is also the No.1 team in that area halfway through round two.
"It's a bit of an arm wrestle statistically, but 94 tackles at Etihad is a good sign of their intent," Dew told reporters post-match.
"I think we had the same in the wet last week (98), so it's a good one for us coaches to reinforce; whatever the weather is, if we've got the intent, we can tick that off.
"We have brought in Nick Holman and I think he's gone 13 and 10 (tackles). You love to have someone like that who plays like his life depends on it.
"He's on his second chance, so he's living the dream again."
Improving in contested situations was Dew's top summer priority for the SUNS and, on top of the tackle numbers – they had 26 more than Carlton – the edge in contested possessions pleased him.
Gold Coast has also won that statistic in both rounds to date.
The pair of victories are important in many respects for Dew's SUNS, but possibly none more so than because they won't play a legitimate home game until round 11.
Metricon Stadium will host the athletics on a temporary track during the Commonwealth Games, which runs from April 4 to 15.
"We'd love to win everywhere," Dew said.
"Seeing how North ran out the game yesterday probably gave our guys a bit of confidence that we could come to a quick deck, after playing up there (in wet conditions at Cairns), and tick it off."
There was plenty
Witts had a field day in the ruck against the Blues, who went into the game without No.1 option Matthew Kreuzer (groin
Levi Casboult, with support from Cameron O'Shea and Charlie Curnow, shouldered the load for Carlton with
"Kreuzer is a star and really well-respected by us," Dew said.
"The danger when someone like that pulls out before the game (is) you can take your foot off the pedal, but I think Wittsy prepared really well.
"He's a pro and he's in our leadership group, so I thought he gave us reasonable first use, then had a big man presence
